Meet Jason Kartez | High School Art and CTE Teacher and Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jason Kartez and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jason, is your business focused on helping the community? If so, how?
Primarily I see myself these days as an art educator making an impact on community and the world through providing K-12 students with project based real world learning opportunities. The cornerstone of my educational philosophy is that it is important to offer k-12 students art education that is at a professional level but also matches students present level of cognitive development. My own experience in high school was that in my public high school art class was neither taught in a serious way or taken seriously by students because it was paired down and simplified. It was not until I got a scholarship to go to an exchange school called the Oxbow School that I became really excited about art, it was the first time anyone had ever taken what I was doing seriously. It is this same energy that I try to emulate and bring to my high school classroom when I am teaching, the feeling that the art being made is important and should be taken seriously.

As far as my own art outside of being a full-time art educator I usually combine writing and drawing, observing and documenting. During the start of the pandemic I was working for the City of Los Angeles helping run an emergency homeless shelter at the Hollywood recreation center and I started drawing and writing in a diary format observing what was happening. My business revolved around self publishing the diary comics. I think that it connected with a lot of people because it was raw and honest. It also documented a point in time that brought out both the best and worst of our communities in Los Angeles.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I am both an artist and an art educator teaching with a career technical education credential in art, media and entertainment and a single subject art credential. Currently I am the 10th grade Design Fundamentals II teacher at Da Vinci Design in El Segundo. I have an M.F.A. from the University of Wisconsin Madison, a B.F.A. from Alfred University and a single subject teaching credential from Cal State LA. My art career has spanned such media as glass, sculpture, ceramics, neon, comics, wood and printmaking. For 10 years I was a professional glassblower working for artists in Seattle and at the Pilchuck Glass School in Washington state. During graduate school I moved away from glass towards making comics and k-12 education. I also worked as a research/teaching assistant for the artist Lynda Barry throughout graduate school. I also taught comics at the University of Wisconsin Madison and was the Horatio Alger Jr. Fellow for the study of American Pop Culture at Northern Illinois University. Since moving to Los Angeles I have become dedicated to art education and have taught both at the middle school and high school level. In 2022 I joined Da Vinci Design where through project based learning and real world application I share my experience and enthusiasm for the arts.

It has not been easy, especially switching from my past career in the arts as a glassblower to being a dedicated educator. But being immersed in education feels like the way it was always supposed to be. My mom who passed away when I was in my early twenties was a kindergarten teacher and founded an early childhood eduction program. I am teacher partly to honor the memory of my mom. I also am a teacher because of an experience I had in high school where I received a scholarship to attend the Oxbow School in Napa Valley. This set me on the path to becoming an artist and teacher.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I would take them to eat all around the city at spots like Bridgetown Roti, Mariscos Jalisco, Merkato, Villas Tacos, Pizzana, Gorilla Pies and Yama Seafood. I would also take them to LACMA and MOCA and galleries like LA Louver and Shulamit Nazarian. During one of the days I would take them to Amoeba and stay till close digging for records. Afterwards we would head down Hollywood Blvd to eat at Nothern Thai Food Club, Rad Na Silom and Ruen Pair, back to back to back. Another night I would go to Permanent Records Road house to listen to music and dig for records.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
There are so many people in Los Angeles county who deserve shout outs for encouraging and supporting me. First of all Cassandra Reyes who is a veteran City of Los Angeles and Director of the Canoga Park Performing arts center. Cassandra has always supported and believed in me and watched my career grow over the years. Al Ramos is another City of Los Angeles employee who I met during the pandemic, he also is a movie director and writer. At Cal State LA where I received my teaching credential I met the wonderful professor Rebecca Jospeh, who is sincere and not afraid to stand up for her students. I also met my mentor/teaching supervisor, Kimberly Persiani who is the chair of the Charter School of Education at Cal State LA. Her style, attitude and advice has had a big impact on me and I aspire to be an educator like her. In the art world Chris Pate, Seth Kaufman, Lynda Barry and Annie Seaton have supported me in their own different ways over the years. I have also received support from Side Street Projects, the California Arts Council and a LA County small business grants. Lastly I would like to shoutout the Da Vinci Schools in El Segundo and Russell Stoll and Matt Wunder.

Website: www.jasonkartez.com

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-kartez-20205b80/

Image Credits
Stacee Lianna National Liberty Museum Erika Herrera Jason Kartez